29 died after vaccination against COVID-19 in Norway – EU

Norway changed its advice to administer the vaccine to Pfizer and Biontech after 29 deaths were reported in the country among older people with extremely poor health and severe comorbidities, the agencies said.

Local health authorities warn that vaccinating people on the brink of exhaustion and with multiple diseases can be dangerous. They advise GPs to decide for each individual patient whether to get vaccinated with Pfizer and Biontech, adds BTV.

Healthy doctor dies after vaccination

The Norwegian Medicines Agency initially reported 23 deaths in the elderly shortly after receiving the first dose of the vaccine. Thirteen of them experienced serious side effects: fever, vomiting and nausea, which “could lead to the death of patients in poor health.”

The death toll was later adjusted to 29. Norwegian authorities say all the cases occurred in nursing homes. They recommend that doctors decide on the spot who should be vaccinated and who should not based on their health. Norway advises other countries that administer the Pfizer and Biontech vaccines to closely monitor the condition of older patients.

Despite the deaths, Norwegian health authorities insist that this is not a cause for concern and that allergic reactions to the vaccine are extremely rare.

“We are not concerned about the situation. Obviously, these vaccines pose minimal risk, except for older patients. Doctors have to judge on a case-by-case basis. Those patients who are really on the verge of exhaustion and are at the end of their lives, they can receive a vaccine after individual evaluation, “said Steinar Madsen, director of the Norwegian Medicines Agency.

Pfizer and Biontech said they were working with local health authorities in Norway to investigate each case, but “they are not concerned,” Bloomberg reported. To date, more than 30,000 people have been vaccinated in Norway.